Barking Mad leads Rolex Farr 40 Worlds after 5 races

[Source: Rolex Farr 40 Worlds] Two races, two winners, no change at the top. The wobbles have begun though and the moves are being made in both directions. Rudyard Kipling could have written his famous poem about day two at the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds 2009. Three boats held their nerve the best. Jim Richardson and Barking Mad (USA), Giovanni Maspero and Joe Fly (ITA), Massimo Mezzaroma and Nerone (ITA) kept the damage to the minimum and lead the fleet going into day three.

Today was all about keeping your head at the start line. Neither race got away cleanly. The first race required two attempts, the second three. In the first race two boats still got it wrong second time around despite the threat of a Z Flag - which adds an irredeemable three-point scoring penalty at this regatta if you are over early. In the second race the phrase 'losing it' springs to mind, as eleven boats sailed the course under the shadow of the penalty flag.

Highlights from day 1 and 2 of the Rolex Farr40 Worlds. Porto Cervo, 25 June 2009. Video Copyright Rolex

Those got away cleanly through luck or judgement had a relatively easy day. Both Barking Mad and Joe Fly led their races; both sailed in mid-teen westerlies, from start to finish. The Italian crew had the better day posting a fourth in the first race to keep all their scores so far in the top five. The Americans posted a sixth in the second race, but stay in first overall. These two are separated by one point, with Nerone's score line of 2, 4 sufficient to lift them into third place, seven points off the pace.

So, if those three were the movers, who were the shakers. Transfusion, for one. The Australians took a solid third in one race and hefty twenty in the other. Vincenzo Onorato did only slightly better, with a combined score of seventeen-points, but the Z-flag in the second race suggests a chink in the usually impregnable armour of Mascalzone Latino (ITA). Fiamma (ITA) may have only slipped from eighth to ninth in the overall standings, but a look at the score line shows a damaging thirty-four point day that has dented Alessandro Barnaba's Championship challenge.

Barking Mad has been on the Farr 40 circuit longer than anyone competing here. A core crewmember is Linda Lindquist-Bishop, former America's Cup sailor with America 3 and one of two women on the team. Lindquist-Bishop is clear on the route to success today, “in the words of my great sailing mentor, Buddy Melges, the best strategy is to get out in front and stay there and that is what we did in the first race today. In this fleet an awful lot of it is about the start and that is why you see everyone just really choked up on the line, wanting to be in the right place at the right speed right at the gun, because literally quarter boat length off the line, without enough pace, and you're buried and you really have to fight back.”

Start of race in day 2 of the Rolex Farr40 Worlds. Porto Cervo, 25 June 2009. Photo Copyright Rolex / Kurt Arigo

For a long time Farr 40s were sailed with nine crew, but in recent years there has been a move to ten and more often than not the tenth member is female. Lindquist-Bishop explains that the reasoning is not just weight-related, “we used to sail these boats with nine, but about three years ago we changed from fractional kites to big mast head kites and now we sail the boats completely differently within the manoeuvres. The tenth person used to be an extra that just filled in, but now they have a very specific set of tasks on board. The tenth pair of hands is very useful. It's a strength position too, so it is a good combination to have a good, strong, light person and if you look we have Olympic level sailors in that tenth position.” One such Olympian is Carrie Howe, a trimmer on another American boat, Flash Gordon, currently lying seventh overall.

Giovanni Maspero the owner of Joe Fly is delighted to be in second overnight and equally pleased with the consistency of their performance, “yesterday and today we always were able to have great starts, the speed up-wind has always been to good so we were always able to get in the top five.” Asked what the secret is to staying at the front, Maspero rolls his eyes and laughs, “there are absolutely no secrets! We have been racing in this class for many years. We have had to be patient and improve every year. Only in the last one year have we reached the potential of our performance.”

Maspero's tactician, Francesco Bruni is more sanguine in his response to the same question, “we've been pretty conservative tactically and we've had very good starts. So far that has been the key to take you to the top mark in the top five. We've dropped some places in a couple of the races, but we can't complain. It's about being consistent.”

Bruni is a three time Olympian, each time in a different class (Star, Laser and 49er), so a man who knows all about the importance of start line position. For him the adage location, location, location could easily apply to the Farr 40 Class, “the first hard decision is which position on the starting line because it makes such a huge difference. It is a long line so it is a big difference if you start on the pin or committee end. Starting well and in the right place is so important.” Once off the line, Bruni agrees with fellow-Italian Vasco Vascotto on Nerone that the left side has seemed favoured, but he sees some variation, “so far the left corner has been working well, but with some exceptions so it is not absolutely clear. For me you need to start well, go left, but keep your eyes open. Downwind it has been a little more tricky. There are a lot of passing lanes and you see a lot of things changing.”

No doubt we'll see more things changing when racing continues tomorrow, 26 June, with the first gun at 11.00. Geoff Stagg of the Farr 40 Management Committee is quite certain of that, “this is when it really heats up. Yesterday there were no problems on the line; today it was different with a lot of boats carrying penalties. It will be the same tomorrow. Those that can't stand the heat will start falling by the wayside. The pressure is really, really coming on.” If the racing tomorrow is as intense as today, bring it on!

PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER FIVE RACES
Place, Boat Name, Owner, Nation, R1-R2-R3-R4-R5-Points

1. BARKING MAD Jim Richardson USA, 1-6-4-1-6-18.00
2. JOE FLY Giovanni Maspero ITA, 4-5-5-4-1-19.00
3. NERONE Massimo Mezzaroma ITA, 5-1-13-2-4-25.00
4. MASCALZONE LATINO Vincenzo Onorato ITA, 2-10-2-9-ZFP 6-31.00
5. GOOMBAY SMASH William Douglass USA, 7-2-12-8-7-36.00
6. TRANSFUSION Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AUS, 9-7-1-3-ZFP 20-40.00
7. FLASH GORDON Helmut Jahn USA, 20-4-3-11-ZFP 11-49.00
8. FIAMMA Alessandro Barnaba ITA, 3-12-7-10-ZFP 4-56.00
9. TWINS Erik Maris FRA, 14-8-15-14-ZFP 5-56.00
10. KOKOMO Lang Walker AUS, 10-15-9-12-11-57.00

Light conditions on second day of Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

[Source: Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup] Imagine you are sat on your boat in the middle of an emerald sea enjoying a quiet bit of fishing. Imagine in the distance an array of colourful spinnakers is heading towards you under a cloudless blue sky in ten to twelve knots of warm breeze. Imagine that the leading boats all turn in unison towards you as if they have been choreographed to do so. Realise suddenly you are parked up next to Secca tre Monti, the turning mark in the middle of race 2 at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup. You probably start feeling a bit like the Captain of the L'Orient at the Battle of the Nile as the British fleet turned towards him line astern. Unlike that poor seafarer you are able to take evasive action and find yourself in the best seat in the house as five IRC-optimised Mini Maxis bear down before dousing their kites, turn sharp right and head off the rocks at Monaci to disturb the afternoon of a couple of diving parties.

Day 2 of the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup opened with less than promising conditions. The Race Committee kept the fleet ashore until 1130, but even then it was not until 1330 that the racing began in just over 5 knots of easterly breeze. Three hours later, the Cruising and Mini Maxis had completed a 17 nautical mile course that took them to a windward mark, before reaching back west towards Capo Ferro where they entered the channel and reached off to the submerged outcrop of rocks known locally simply as Secca. From there, in a freshening breeze, they followed a fetch north to Monaci and another fetch back to Golfo Pevero, before finishing off Porto Cervo. Ranger (CAY IS) took a second bullet in Cruising, as did Numbers (USA) featuring the Alinghi crew in the Mini Maxis.

The Racing and Wally Divisions stretched their longer, more nimble legs a little further covering 25nm which included a long beat from Monaci down towards Mortoriotto before returning to Pevero and the finish. As they turned the corner at I. di Nibani the returning Wallys found themselves on a beam reach and at times appeared overpressed under their massive mains and spinnakers. With the foot of kites toying perilously close to the foaming bow waves, crew nerves must have been tingling. What looked a short hop must have felt like an age. Open Season was one to almost round up as she took a gust broadside, but this did nothing to upset her otherwise perfect day. Thomas Bscher's Open Season (GER), in the Wally Division, was joined by George David's Rambler (USA) in Racing on today's winner's podium.

Jochen Schuemann is tactician on Open Season: "The day started with a postponement but the race committee did a very good job. They waited exactly to the moment the breeze developed and we were able to sail downwind into the islands, which look great with all these maxi yachts sailing through the rocks."

Schuemann, another triple gold medallist from the Games competing here this week, continued, "we have to fight in our division with two similar-sized boats. Today we had a good start and all three were very close together. Luckily we were in a very good position to keep Magic Carpet behind us and not to lose distance on Y3K in front. Real concentration was important during the entire race, but especially close to the coast where the wind was stronger than further offshore. Tactical decisions were very important because although you can't influence the smaller boats behind you have to beat them. It is what we were able to accomplish today and of course we are very happy about. It has been the first win for Open Season since quite a long time ago. The crew did a great job today!"

Thomas Bscher OPEN SEASON, 3rd in the Wally Division after two races, with Jochen Schuemann calling tactics. Porto Cervo, 3 September 2008. Photo copyright Daniel Foster / Rolex

Whilst Y3K led the 143-foot Esense home on the water, it was Open Season that took the race ahead of Jean Charles Decaux's J One on handicap and now leads the Wally Division after two races.

Back to Aboukir Bay, or at least the reach past Capo Ferro and into Bomb Alley. This was great sailing for the front-runners in the Mini Maxi Division. Almost a straight-line drag race, but for an annoying gybe near the end. Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo 3 (NZL) with Torben Grael in the hot seat led by some distance a pack comprising Alegre (GBR), Numbers, Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud (USA), Jim Swartz's Moneypenny (USA) and one or two of the smaller Wallys, such as J One down towards the unsuspecting picnickers. The wind had finally built to double figures at this point and the spectacle was complete, as the group gybed together, as though signalled to do so by the lead boat.

Andy Soriano, owner of Alegre, who lives in the Philippines and is usually seen racing on the Asian Circuit was pleased with the way the day went and with progress generally, "it's a tough fleet. Every day we do a little better which is good. There was a little bit of everything today windwise, and we sailed a good race, which is important. I'm really enjoying being out there racing with a number of similar boats."

Alegre went onto to finish the race in third place on the water behind Alfa 3 and Numbers, but came in second on handicap and now lies second overall behind the word-perfect Numbers.

Peter Holmberg, an Olympic silver medallist, is tactician on All Smoke (GBR). Gunther Herz's 24-metre yacht, a former event winner under IMS, is struggling to keep up with the newly launched pack of IRC Mini Maxis, but finished a respectable eighth on handicap today to add to her sixth of yesterday. Holmberg paid credit to the Race Committee for getting the race underway, "I thought Peter Craig was being a bit ambitious, but he got us off at the right time. It was light at the start and these big boats can be pretty tricky in that, so it was a challenge. The breeze filled in downwind, so it was a good test of crew work and an enjoyable day." Holmberg is also enjoying the range of courses on offer, "Today was tricky because the wind kept switching and you did not know how far it was going to change. Every boat has a navigator, the water's clear and when you have scenery like this I'd much rather race around the rocks than the buoys".

Gunter Herz's ALLSMOKE, 6th in the Mini Maxi Class after two races. Porto Cervo, 3 September 2008. Photo copyright Daniel Foster / Rolex

In the Cruising Division the two J Class yachts Ranger and Velsheda enjoyed another match-race round the course, seemingly oblivious to all that is going on around them. Ghost was first home again after a poor first leg that saw her trail the Js around the initial windward mark. Some good work on the ensuing long, downwind leg saw her open up on her more traditional looking rivals. The gap was never going to be enough, because though Ranger and Velsheda seemed only interested in each other they are sailing so well to post a 1,2 today some 13 minutes ahead of Edwin Van Der Straten's Bristolian on handicap. Ghost repeated yesterday's eighth, whilst things went very badly wrong for the mighty Salperton.

After yesterday's wide grins, Salperton was forced to retire from today's racing with hydraulic problems that will see her crew hard at work tonight to ready her for a return to the fray for the remainder of the series. After yesterday's excellent result everyone has their fingers-crossed the biggest boat in the fleet will be on the start line tomorrow.

In the Racing Division, the 90-foot, conventional keeled, water ballasted Rambler struck a blow for the little guy by pulling out a win today. Despite finishing some thirteen minutes behind the 100-foot, supremely powerful Alfa Romeo, George David's crew, with Ray Davies and Peter Isler sharing the tactician's role, scraped home on handicap by a mere 18 seconds. But that is the name of the handicap game. One second, one minute, one hour - a winning margin is a winning margin.

Principal Race Officer Peter Craig is hoping for better breeze and earlier start tomorrow. Whilst the Mini Maxis are expected to undertake Windward/Leewards, the remaining three divisions will continue to contest more of the fascinating coastal racing on offer off Porto Cervo.

The Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, organized by the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda in conjunction with the International Maxi Association (IMA), will run from September 1st to September 7th. Racing commences tomorrow, Tuesday and with racing scheduled for each following day, the prize giving on Saturday will be the culmination of an intense week of big boat racing. From the most luxurious, through the most traditional, to the most advanced monohulls afloat today, the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup is nothing if not an astonishing line up of sailing power.

For more information about the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 2008 including entry lists and results please visit www.yccsmaxi.com.

To receive daily reports and to download high-resolution images, copyright free for editorial purposes, register online at www.regattanews.com.

CURRENT PROVISIONAL STANDINGS Place Boat Name Owner Nation, R1-R2-Points

Racing
1. ALFA ROMEO Neville Crichton NZL, 1-2-3.0
2. RAMBLER George David USA, 2-1-3.0

Cruising
1. RANGER, RSV Ltd USA, 1-1-2.0
2. VELSHEDA, Tarbat Inv. Ltd GBR, 3-2-5.0
3. HETAIROS, Rockport Limited (GER), 4-4-8.0

Mini Maxi
1. NUMBERS, Meyers/Bertarelli USA, 1-1-2.0
2. ALEGRE, Andres Soriano, 4-2-6.0
3. ROSEBUD/TEAM DYT, Roger Sturgeon USA, 3-3-6.0

Wally
1. MAGIC CARPET, 2 Lindsay Owen-Jones GBR, 1-4-5.0
2. J ONE, Jean-Charles Decaux FRA, 4-2-6.0
3. OPEN SEASON, Thomas Bscher GER, 6-1-7.0

Artemis grabs leadership at Rolex TP52 Global Championship

[Source: Rolex TP52 Global Championship] King of Cool or lucky break? That is the question. Whatever the real answer, the positions at the end of Day Two and Race Five of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship 2007 do not lie. Artemis (SWE) sits on top of the heap with a healthy ten-point margin over second placed Patches (IRE). It could have been worse or better for both. Patches caught over the start line in the first two races of the day and Artemis over early in the third. Both completed recoveries that in the case of Artemis suggested true genius at the core - the genius of Russell Coutts - along with a measure of good boat speed and probably some luck.

Master magician onboard or not, Torbjorn Tornqvist's Artemis was comprehensively boat of the day posting a 1, 2, 4. Not far behind in that category was Stuart Robinson's Stay Calm (GBR), which managed to avoid any issues with the line, and scored 2, 4, 3 to move into fourth overall. The two other race winners were Doug DeVos' Windquest (USA)with Terry Hutchinson calling the shots and, of course, Eamon Conneely's Patches which, after her problems with the first two starts of the day, stormed around the final course like a scalded cat to finish someway in front of Alberto Roemmers' Siemens.

Start of the races in the second day of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship. Porto Cervo, 25 September 2007. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Rolex

The three races were held in a fresh northwesterly. The promised rotation from the northeast arrived early and the race committee got off the daily maximum number of windward/leewards in short order. The steadiness of the breeze reflected in a lack of any course changes. The first race involved a 2 nautical mile leg in 12 - 15 knots, whilst the second and third saw a 2.4 nm leg and the wind topping out at around 20 knots on the final run home. Normal Porto Cervo service well and truly resumed, with a bright clear sky and plenty of sunshine.

What a difference a day makes. At 2.15pm yesterday the first race was just getting underway in miserable conditions. By that time today, yesterday's problems were forgotten and the crews were halfway through the second race and, if you really want to know how exciting the racing was today, phone a friend. Hopefully, one onboard of a competing yacht, but if not, perhaps one on the fleet of spectator, support, media and committee boats that hared up and down the course all day stopping only to gawp at the mark roundings. Otherwise look at the pictures, shut your eyes and imagine sound of sheets screeching as grinders wring the last few millimetres out of the resisting sheets as the boats round the leeward mark or trimmers ease the taut, loaded membranes at the top mark. Trying to bottle or distil the intensity of these moments is all but impossible.

Doug DeVos' Windquest during the second day of the Rolex TP52 Global Championship. Porto Cervo, 25 September 2007. Photo copyright Carlo Borlenghi / Rolex

Stuart Robinson, owner and helm of Stay Calm described their day, "a great day's sailing. Warm, sunny and wind. We had good starts which obviously helps, while a lot of people were over (early) which was surprising, but we made use of that. We had good boat speed and generally sailed much better than yesterday, managing to keep pretty clean." Robinson clearly thoroughly enjoys sailing the TP52, "it's just like a big dinghy and with a tiller you get quite into it! The tiller is harder than the wheel, but more responsive. You certainly feel when there is load on it, but it is good fun hanging off that. We're sailing the boat quite aggressively downwind and we hit 18 knots on the last run when the breeze came up. We really pushed it on that leg and we almost got to Siemens in second who had been quite far ahead. Andy Hemmings joined us from Team New Zealand this year and is doing an excellent job trimming."

First race of the day was pretty straightforward, unless you were Patches, Fram XVI (NOR), Siemens (ESP) or Mutua Madrilena (CHI) - all caught over the line early and forced to return. By the time they were back in the contest, Artemis and Stay Calm had established their authority over the rest of the fleet and went on to finish in that order - the Swedish boat some 35 seconds ahead. John Buchan's Glory (USA) had her best result of the day coming home in third after a great scrap with John Cook's Cristabella (GBR), probably still smarting after being disqualified in the second race yesterday. Patches recovered to ninth after some fine work on the second windward leg.

Second race, and yet again Patches and Mutua Madrilena found themselves ahead of the game at the start - this time with DSK Comifin (POR), Cristabella and Anonimo Q8 (ITA). Mutua recovered the best coming home in seventh, the product of good work upwind and downwind. Nacho Postigo, navigator on the Chilean boat commented, " today we have had to make nice recoveries from bad positions. The boat is travelling very nicely on the water even in strong wind and we have been very happy with the speed and the tactical decisions. But starting last and rounding the first mark last is very hard to come back with this fleet." At the front, Windquest led from start to finish as Artemis followed her around. For Anonimo, the race started badly, tailed off in the middle and the less said about the end the better. Riccardo Simonsechi's team came into the first leeward rounding struggling with a broken headsail. Once the sail was up, they started upwind only to get about 500 metres before a sickening crunch was heard and the masthead crane at the top of the mast hung limply having snapped clean off. Simoneschi is hoping for the predicted Mistral to bring a temporary halt to racing tomorrow giving him time to try and sort things out.

Siemens made a considerable comeback in the second day. Porto Cervo, 25 September 2007. Photo copyright Nico Martinez

At the start of the third race, Cristabella and DSK Comifin were in the wrong again, this time with even more illustrious company. What unfolded next was close to a miracle. Whilst Patches, with Stuart Childerley on the helm and Ian Walker calling tactics, gave the proverbial masterclass in winning from the front, Coutts and Artemis put on one in recovering position with owner Torbjorn Tornqvist on the helm. Start last, finish fourth. Coutts made it sound relatively easy, "we were quite late going back, so we lost on the fleet. But the boat is fast and we had a lot of boat speed today. We did the first beat pretty nicely and that got us to the back of the fleet. Fortunately it was quite windy in the last race which was certainly another factor that helped us on the first run pass a few boats downwind." Artemis rounded the first windward mark in 10th, by the leeward gate she was 8th and second time around at the top she was 5th after initially heading right on the beat, whilst Patches and the rest headed left. There was certainly a little good fortune involved as a couple of boats ahead on the first run appeared to gybe one shift earlier than Artemis to get back into the favourable current further offshore.

Provisional standings after 5 races
1. ARTEMIS Torbjorn Tornqvist, SWE, 6-1-1-2-4-14.00
2. PATCHES Eamon Conneely IRL, 1-5-9-8-1-24.00
3. MEAN MACHINE Peter de Ridder, MON, 7-4-6-3-6-26.00
4. STAY CALM Stuart Robinson, GBR, 12-7-2-4-3-28.00
5. WINDQUEST Doug DeVos, USA, 8-6-5-1-11-31.00
6. MUTUA MADRILENA Bablio Sail Project, CHI, 9-2-13-7-5-36.00
7. SIEMENS Alberto Roemmers, ESP, 4-3-10-5-2-36.00
8. CAM Leon/Sanchez, ESP, 5-12-8-6-5-36.00
9. GLORY John Buchan, USA, 3-13-3-10-7-36.00
10. CRISTABELLA John Cook, GBR, 2-DSQ-4-11-10-43.00